Description of Voki
Voki is a web 2.0 tool that can be found at http://www.voki.com. Voki allows people to create and voice different avatars. These avatars range from people to animals. There are two different versions of voki that people can choose from. Regular Voki is free but has a limited selection of avatars to use, while Voki classroom costs $30 a year (for 1 subscription), but has no restriction on avatar use. Voki classroom allows teachers to manage their students accounts, manage their classes and lessons, review Vokis before they are published and show case student's work.

Once Voki avatars have been made, individuals can give voice to them through several different methods. They can use computer automated voices by typing in the words they want their avatar to say or people can speak into their computers (using a built in or external microphone) to give voice to their avatar. This is the method used in the Voki avatar example below.

Vokis are extremely versatile and can be used in a multitude of ways. Any website that allows the use of an embed code can host a Voki avatar. These sites are, but are not limited to Wiki pages, Moodle pages, web pages ect.




Benefits of Voki
Here are some benefits for students and teachers
  • Voki is a fun, interactive tool that allows students to demonstrate acquired knowledge
  • Voki can be used as an effective language tool
  • Voki offers several languages and accents for their avatars
  • Voki is an interactive, 21st century, multimedia tool which can stimulate student interest
  • Voki can be used as a communication tool between teachers, students and parents
  • Voki Classroom is designed specifically for education and allows educators to manage students and Voki classrooms.
  • Voki Classroom offers lesson plans for educators and share
  • Voki has a teachers corner where teachers can post questions and comments to each other

Check out these websites about the benefits of Voki
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZwQTm_5s6Q
http://educatorstudio.com/articles/creating-avatars-motivate-voki-classroom



Constraints of Voki
  • To access all that Voki has to offer, a person has to subscribe to the pay version of Voki, called Voki Classroom.
  • Without being a part of Voki Classroom, students have to register to create their own Voki account.
  • Voki, not the classroom edition, is public
  • Avatars cannot be downloaded to your computer




How To Use Voki
View this Voki tutorial
1. You can create a voki account by clicking on register in the top right hand corner of the web page as seen in the image capture.
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2. Once you have created an account, you can create a Voki of your own by selecting the Create button located at the top left tab at the top of the page. Once you have clicked on create you can build an avatar of any shape or size by using the different "customize your character" buttons. This button will allow you to select different faces, hair, skin color, clothes, accessories.
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3. Once you have created your avatar, you can give it a voice by selecting the keyboard key icon and type what you want the avatar to say. This will give your avatar a computer generated voice, or you can record your own voice by clicking on the microphone and speaking into your computer or using an external computer.
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5. Once you have finished creating your avatar you can embed your voki on multiple websites by copying the embed code as shown below.

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Original Artifact of Voki
​I created this voki at www.voki.com. I use this voki on my moodle page to set up the week for my students. I used this particular Voki to give my students instructions when I was at a conference for a couple of days.



Classroom Uses for Voki

Student Uses
  • Students can create 30 to 60 second campaign speeches for a class election
  • Students can create a verbal summary of the causes of the American Revolution
  • Students can create Vokis that express their reactions to an article read in class then post their Vokis to a class forum to share.
  • Students summarize and support their point of view with Voki, based on a persuasive essay they wrote in class
  • Have students create historical characters and explain who they are and what their historical relevance was

Teacher Uses
  • Teachers can introduce class webpages, Moodle pages, Wiki pages, etc.
  • Teachers can communicate and leave instructions to students when the teacher is absent
  • Teachers can introduce lessons and activities to students